Paul Clemens (2-4, 4.93) lasted just three innings, giving up two runs (one earned) on four hits and four walks with two strikeouts. Clemens walked the first three Braves’ batters in the fourth inning before he was pulled. Keith Hessler was the only Padres pitcher — of the five that appeared in the game — to not have a run scored against him. In the first inning, with Matt Kemp at the plate, Ender Inciarte on a balk from Clemens. An Adonis Garcia double scored Matt Wisler in the third inning. In the sixth inning, a double by Gordon Beckham drove in Nick Markakis and Tyler Flowers and a single by Inciarte scored Beckham. Inciarte scored on Freddie Freeman‘s single and a sacrifice fly by Kemp drove in Garcia in the eighth inning.

Former Padre Wisler (6-11, 4.76) pitched six innings and set a new career high for strikeouts with ten, allowing one run on four hits and three walks. Oswaldo Arcia hit a solo home run in the fourth inning for the Padres’ only run.

The Padres try to avoid a sweep today, with Jarred Cosart (0-1, 4.23) getting the start versus Mike Foltynewicz (7-5, 4.30). First pitch is set for 9:10am PDT.

Matt Wisler (5-3, 4.65) pitched five innings in his first start against San Diego in a Braves’ uniform, giving up two runs on six hits and two walks with two strikeouts. In the third inning, Cory Spangenberg scored on a Matt Kemp sacrifice fly. The next inning, Upton Jr. had the first of his five RBI as he knocked in Derek Norris with a single.

In the sixth inning, after Wisler was pulled for David Aardsma, Justin Upton led off the inning with a double. Two outs later, Upton Jr. hit the first of his two two-run home runs. After an Alexi Amarista single and a Brett Wallace pinch-hit walk, Solarte hit a three-run home run.

In the seventh inning, Norris doubled to lead off the inning, and Upton Jr. then connected on a 1-0 pitch for his second two-run home run of the game, in almost the exact same spot in left-center field the first one landed.

James Shields (9-5, 3.74) pitched six innings, striking out seven with five hits and two walks. Odrisamer Despaigne pitched the seventh and eighth innings, giving up three hits. And Kevin Quackenbush pitched the ninth inning, surrendering a walk.

This afternoon at 12:40pm PDT, the Padres wrap up the series and try for the sweep. Tyson Ross (8-9, 3.40) gets the start while the Braves will send out Julio Teheran (8-6, 4.44).

Just when I thought it was safe to settle in for a little Sunday Night Baseball action, A.J. Preller struck again, pulling off the sort of Opening Day/Night blockbuster far more likely to show up in your fantasy league than the majors.

In Episode 18 of the podcast we chat with John Conniff of MadFriars about the Padres farm system. What prospects does John expect to contribute in the majors this season? What pitcher is John’s sleeper prospect? What did Nelson Cruz say to John just before taking Wade LeBlanc yard in Portland? Where are the San Antonio barbecue joints that refuse to provide sliverware? We answer all these questions and more.

Here it is! All of the Padres bobbleheads that I own, in one single post! 57 168 (!!!!) different Padres, Chihuahuas, Beavers, Stars, BayBears, Quakes, Storm, Wizards, TinCaps, Emeralds, managers, announcers, mascots, dreamboats, skaters and sleepy voiced ex-owners. I’ve written in depth about many of these already, so if you have any questions feel free to ask in the comments below and I’ll fill you in on them.

Some Additional Notes:

-The Tony Gwynn set of 5 was not a Padres affiliated giveaway and was reportedly a set that Alicia Gwynn teamed up with another company on. I can’t recall the year, or if they were given away somewhere or sold, but I’m about 99.9% sure that it was in 2001.

-I found out that the set that features Trevor Hoffman, Ryan Klesko, Mark Kotsay and Phil Nevin was indeed given away at a game on August 4th, 2002, but was for kids only. You could also go to Carl’s Jr. every Saturday for 5 consecutive weeks and purchase a combo meal to buy a different bobblehead for $4.99 though, which is what I did. My cholesterol levels have never been the same.

-The Jerry Coleman bobblehead was a San Diego National Bank item from 2001 and was given away to “special friends of the bank” only.

-I’ve never seen the 1980’s Twin Enterprises bobblehead before, but I scooped it up. It’s in the 1985-1990 uniform, however I have never seen any of these holding a baseball. Perhaps it was a custom one?

If you have any bobbleheads that aren’t listed here, that you’d like to contribute to my sickness the cause, then shoot me an e-mail.

The 2011 MLB first year player draft was the last of it’s kind. In 2012, Major League Baseball, feeling that signing bonuses had ballooned out of control, changed the rules, instituting hard caps with stiff penalties for teams who spent over the recommended signing bonuses. Rather than issuing guidelines for what players should earn, they started issuing hard values for each pick, and a team that spent more than 5% over the total value of their picks would lose picks in the following draft. 2011 was supposedly the inmates running the asylum, while 2012 and beyond has been 24 hour lock down.

The Padres spent over $11 million on draft picks in 2011, the most in team history, going well over the slot recommendations for several of their picks. In 2012, they spent $9.8 million, only $100k less than their $9.9 million bonus pool allotment. In 2013, they went right up to the edge of their bonus pool, but that meant spending just $6.8 million. This year’s allotment is the team’s lowest yet since the rule change at just $6.1 million. While the actual draft can still be pretty fun, from a fan’s perspective this suppression of spending on the draft is really depressing.

So let’s go back to that last great draft, take a look at the notable picks the Padres made, do a little second-guessing, and decide whether some of the more prominent second-guessing is really justified.

This is a list of the best prospects in the Padres’ organization. To be eligible for this list a player must not have appeared in the majors. It’s a weird way to do things, but means more young prospects will appear. Prospects are ranked both by their ultimate potential and the likelihood that they will reach that potential. The easiest way to understand the rankings is to consider what order players would be selected in if the entire organization were eligible for a draft. Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA) for each prospect is when they would reach the majors if they were able to reach their potential.

Prospects have been split into tiers to help get a better idea of the talent gap between players (i.e. the difference between position 1 and 2 may not be the same as the difference between position 14 and 15). It is safe to assume that all players in a tier could be rearranged without much argument.

Risk Factors have been included to help show the largest road block faced in each player’s development

Tier 1

1) Austin Hedges – Hedges split his age-20 season between High-A Lake Elsinore and Double-A San Antonio. While his overall offensive production doesn’t jump out at you, Hedges continues to be a tough out against advanced competition. He will head back to San Antonio to begin 2014, but minimal development is required before Hedges is able to contribute at the big league level. ETA: 2014

That didn’t stop me from watching a few spring training games. I saw two in person and three or four on MLB.tv, depending on whether you count the parts where I fell asleep.

I also saw some backfield practice sessions, although not as many as I’d have liked. If you ever go to spring training, be sure to hit those and watch the prospects do drill after drill as they hone their craft. For me, the practices are better than the games.